Current Status of the Agricultural Knowledge System

Structure and Organization
Although this report focuses on agricultural research, it is important to place that activity within the overall structure of Russia's agricultural knowledge system. The agricultural knowledge system (AKS) is defined to include education, training, retraining, extension, technology transfer as well as research. Both public and private sector institutions play a role in the AKS.

A recent report provides a comprehensive description of Russia's AKS (OECD, 1994). Russia's AKS was designed specifically to serve Russian agriculture under central planning. It still retains most of those characteristics -- as well as its original objectives:
  • generate an adequate supply of semi-skilled and skilled agricultural workers for specific industries or enterprises,
  • generate an adequate supply of agricultural technicians and managers for agricultural enterprises,
  • provide a capacity to retrain or improve the professional skills of workers, technicians and managers,
  • develop and adapt agricultural production and utilization technologies through research,
  • transfer these technologies directly to production or processing enterprises,
  • provide policy analysis and information to central planners and government officials,
  • produce an adequate supply of agricultural scientists and educators.

Responsibility for the AKS is shared by three federal bodies -- the Ministries of Education, Agriculture and Food, and Science and Technology Policy. These three bodies are coordinated by the Committee on Higher Education. Figure 2 presents a simple schematic of the entire Russian AKS. Figure 3 gives the educational pathways that could be followed by qualified students.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

The primary institutional building blocks for Russia's AKS system are:
  1. Agricultural vocational training schools or SPTU in Russian acronym. Students typically enter the SPTU in grade 8 or 9 and complete the training program with a certificate as a skilled agricultural worker in one of 200-300 professions. SPTUs are financed at the oblast and rayon level. In 1992 there were nearly 2200 SPTUs in Russia. Enrollment, as well as the number of offered professions, have fallen sharply since 1992.
  2. Tekhnikums or agricultural colleges. There are approximately 300 tekhnikums or agricultural colleges providing secondary vocational education. Graduates of these programs may enter a career as an agricultural technician or pursue further education. Since 1992, the tekhnikums have introduced new curricula focused on retraining recent graduates in management and economics. Curriculum and funding for the tekhnikums are controlled largely at the federal level.
  3. Agricultural Higher Educational Institutions or VUZ in Russian acronym. The VUZs resemble agricultural colleges or universities in Europe and the United States. Students enter the VUZ following complete general education or after graduating from a tekhnikum or agricultural college. The students entering the VUZs traditionally received advanced, but very narrowly-focused training related to a specific occupation -- a crop production manager or a food processing specialist. There are approximately 60 agricultural VUZs throughout all of Russia -- 8 universities, 2 national academies and 52 institutes. Although the VUZs tend to emphasize undergraduate education, they may also offer post graduate degrees. Many of their faculty members conduct agricultural research as well.
  4. Scientific Research Institutes (SRI). Agricultural research is conducted in over 300 research institutes across the country. Most of the SRI's fall under the governance of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Science (RAAS). However, approximately 80 are supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. This latter group of research institutes tends to be more narrowly-focused than the SRI's under direction of the RAAS. In addition, there are few SRI's that address rural or agricultural problems that are part of the Russian Academy of Science (the "big" academy). Several of the SRI's also have the authority to confer advanced degrees. Most SRI's also have at least rudimentary technology transfer and consulting capabilities. In early 1996, the government issued a decree merging RAAS with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
  5. Retraining Institutes. Retraining or upgrading professional skills has, historically, been an important element of Russia's AKS. In 1992 several regional retraining institutes were established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food by merging the continuing education programs of several agricultural academies. The retraining institutes offer short courses directed toward upgrading technical agricultural skills and knowledge. However, they have also introduced training programs in farm management, accounting, agricultural law and other emerging fields. The retraining institutes, typically, have only a small resident staff. They function, to a large extent as educational brokers -- organizing short courses, recruiting students and hiring instructors from academies, tekhnikums or the private sector.

Agricultural Research Management -- Past and Present
Prior to the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, agricultural research management was largely the responsibility of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) This huge scientific complex was established in 1929 and played the role of research institute, funding agency, professional society, and extension service. The Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (RAAS) originated from VASKhNIL and was formally established in January, 1992.

RAAS manages some 235 research institutes and stations. Of the 28,000 researchers, 700 hold the Doctors of Science degree and 8,700 are Candidates of Science. More than 400 state-run experimental farms and nearly 100 design offices, agro-processing and seed plants and factories under RAAS' umbrella. Approximately 250,000 people are employed in laboratories, fields, farms and shops RAAS controls. About 1.7 million hectares (ha) of arable land with total holdings of 7.6 million ha. in its experimental farm network.

The main task of the Academy's researchers is to provide scientific support to Russia's agroindustrial complex. However, some of its institutes are also responsible for staff training through aspiranture and doctoral thesis preparation, all supported by research work. This involves some 600 researchers each year. Fifty specialized Boards are responsible for the conferment of doctor's and candidate's degrees.

Some Academy researchers are involved as teachers in the higher educational, training and qualification improvement system. The leading researchers deliver lectures at Moscow State University, the Moscow Academy and other institutes. An estimate of RAAS staffing levels and funding allocations is present in Table 13.

Research management under RAAS has changed relatively little since the days of VASKhNIL. In theory, researchers identify potential projects and submit them to RAAS for approval and funding. Part of the proposal includes an economic justification for the research -- how will the results of the project improve Russian agriculture? In reality, however, research management tends to be driven from the center since priority establishment and funding are controlled there.

Research management under RAAS can, at best be described as chaotic. Although the original structure for research management has remained in place, the funding has not. A typical research institute under VASKhNIL, might have received 80-95 percent of its budget directly from Moscow. The remainder would have come from product sales, fees or research contracts with production or processing industries. These research contracts served both a mechanism for technology transfer and a source of graduate student research projects. Over the past 2-3 years, funding support from RAAS has fallen significantly -- often 50-70 percent of original levels. These levels have not been sufficient to cover staff or research salaries. Operating budgets to perform research are almost nonexistent. At the present time, the Russian agricultural research community is fighting for its survival. This funding crisis has triggered a wide range of responses by individual research institutes.

Table 13. RAAS Research Institutes, Staffing and Budgets Proportions for Crops and Livestock in 1991/92.
Number of Research Institutes Staff Budget Proportionsa
Livestock 54 10800b 30
Crops 181 19200 70
Total 235 30000c 100
aBudgets may not have been received in full by institutions.
bIncludes 290 PhD; 2900 M.Sc.
cEstimated to have been reduced by 40 percent in 1993.
Sources: OECD, MOAF figures, and World Bank estimates (for budgets).

  • Individual researchers quit for better paying jobs often in the private sector and frequently outside their field of expertise.
  • Some researchers have taken on part-time jobs. For example, a plant geneticist with a Moscow research institute moonlight as a technician in an emergency room. Another researcher, in a regional institute, sells used cars on commission to make ends meet.
  • Researchers have begun to teach part-time at agricultural academies or in retraining institutes.
  • Some research institutes have merged with other institutes or teaching academies (Box 2).
  • Some research institutes have refocused their research programs toward topics of local interest with an accompanying shift in funding from federal to oblast sources (Box 3).
  • Research institutes in urban centers frequently rent building and lab space to the private sector.
  • Research institutes with experimental farms are attempting to increase productivity on these operations to help support research programs.
  • Some research institutes are aggressively seeking grants from the MOAFF or where possible, the private sector.

****************************************************************************** Box 2. Institutional Reform in Omsk

Omsk oblast is located in western Siberia. This is a transition area from boreal forests in the North to dry steppe in the South. Agriculture was expanded in Omsk during the new land programs of the 1950s and 1960s. Agriculture is an important industry and has always been given emphasis by the oblast administration. The agricultural knowledge system is Omsk was typical for many oblasts -- a research institute, two agricultural academies of higher education reporting to MOAF plus a retraining institute.

In April, 1994 three of the educational institutes took an unusual step -- they merged. Omsk State Agrarian University was formed by combining the Omsk Agricultural Institute of Higher Education, the Omsk Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Omsk Institute for Retraining Agriculture Specialists. The merger was undertaken, in part, because of financial problems experienced by all three institutions. But it was not a new idea. Institute administrators and oblast officials had been discussing a merger for the past 10 years. The merger has led to efficiencies in teaching common subjects. And they have been able to introduce new subjects such as market economics.

The merger has not been effortless. In fact, the three institutions still tend to refer to themselves as separate entities -- much like colleges within a university. But the merger was facilitated because all three institutions had, historically, reported to the same agency, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

The Siberian Research Institute for Agriculture (SRIA) is the major research institution in Omsk Oblast. It, too, reports to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. It has not yet formally merged with the higher educational institution. However, well over 50 percent of SRIA's researchers now teach at Omsk State. In fact it is becoming difficult to tell who works for whom. SRIA is also having to face fundamental choices about its research program. In the past, some research focused on designing irrigation systems for Kazakhstan. This need no longer exits. The institute is attempting to turn its attention to issues of more local interest -- horticulture, for example. Omsk State Agrarian University appears to be well on its way to combining the research, teaching and extension functions found at land grant universities in the U.S. ******************************************************************************

****************************************************************************** Box 3. Shifting Funding, Shifting Priorities

The Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture for Southeast Region (SRIASE) is the Volga region's premier wheat breeding institute. Established in 1909, SRIASE has a well-established reputation for developing high quality cultivars of durum, hard spring and hard winter wheats. These cultivars are seeded on millions of hectares throughout this region.

In 1989, 81 percent of SRIASE's budget came from the Federal government through VASKhNIL. The remaining 19 percent came from its own funds earned through seed sales and farm production. In 1993, SRIASE began receiving support from the oblast government -- about 16 percent of its budget. A year later, the oblast was providing nearly 40 percent of the budget, almost equal to the federal component. By 1995, the oblast contribution was approximately 50 percent of the total budget. As a consequence of the oblast's commitment to research, SRIASE has been spared some of the severe financial difficulties experienced by other agricultural research institutes.

How did this change occur? Fundamentally it was the result of an effective working relationship between SRIASE's administration and the oblast government. However SRIASE has also redirected its research program to focus more on the needs of Saratov Oblast. It has become more applied and problem oriented. Research on tillage systems and erosion control have increased. And linkages with extension and higher education institutions have been significantly strengthened. In addition SRIASE has divested itself of experimental farms located in neighboring oblasts. For some research administers in RAAS, SRIASE has made a Faustian bargain. However, the changes initiated by SRIASE are very consistent with changes occurring in NARS throughout the world -- increasing local funding and accountability and solving real problems faced by commercial agriculture.

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It goes without saying, however, survival of the fittest doesn't necessarily result in strong research programs that can meet future agricultural needs. Agricultural research and research management in Russia is in disarray and is at risk. The old system of priority setting, funding and oversight is not appropriate for Russia's transformation to a market economy. The moral of the Russian agricultural science community is extremely low (Box 4). The current state of crisis may change individual attitudes toward agricultural research, but it will not necessarily lead to a desirable outcome.

Meeting Future Demands for Higher Education in Agriculture
Under central planning, educational needs, training and professional improvement were fairly predictable and fell completely under control of the state. It was considered desirable to educate young people to function under very narrow job descriptions. Employment was considered to be granted over a lifetime. This orientation differs markedly from European and North American institutions where job mobility and multiple career paths are now the norm.

****************************************************************************** Box 4. Life After the Fall

For Russian agricultural scientists, the collapse of communism and the dissolution of the USSR has resulted in precipitous losses -- in resources, productivity, prestige, standard of living and optimism for the future. Here are a few statements by researchers in one agricultural research institute; once considered a world-class organization.

. . ."everything has changed. We still talk about our research as if it mattered. Some of us still work and work hard. But it is for nothing. No one cares."

. . . "everything is based on profit or self-sufficiency. If you work on basic science, you might as well leave and give up."

. . . "We can only remember the good old days when VASKhNIL fed everyone -- scientific exchanges, graduate students, good salary and support."

. . . "everyone must have a second or third job just to survive. We spend much of our time just growing our own food. Even the experimental plots at the Institute have been converted to gardens -- for potatoes."

. . . "in April they didn't have enough money to pay us. So they divided the staff into groups. Some got paid for April in May, others in June, others had to wait until July."

. . . "My pay is comparably high because I'm a senior research -- nearly $100 a month -- when and if I get paid. But my technicians only earn $8-10 a month. They didn't begin to survive on that."

. . . "we have no journals or scientific materials, nothing for over 3 years."

. . . "our building has been rented out to business interests. These are strange people who have no respect for us. Our building is nothing more than a warehouse for goods!"

Our institute had 500 researchers, now less than half remain. Only 15-20 actually come to work. Why should they? No one cares and you don't get paid anyway.

. . . "there are no young people here any more. Only the old ones who have no options."

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The Russian Ministry of Agriculture and Food is currently conducting a series of studies to estimate the demand for agricultural managers and specialists with higher education. The preliminary results from this study, conducted under the auspices of the Scientific Research Institute of Social Problems in the Agro-Industrial Complex, indicate that the demand for educated agricultural specialists will slowly decline from 37 thousand in 1995 to 34 thousand by 2005. This compares to an expected supply of 25-30 thousand graduates each year. The estimated supply reflects a dropout rate of 25-30 percent and the fact that only 30 percent of the students graduating with an agricultural degree actually enter an agricultural profession. Preliminary reports by the Ministry indicate that in early 1996 over 130,000 agricultural workers under age 30 were unemployed. The preliminary conclusion reached by the Ministry was that higher education for agriculture would need to operate near current levels -- despite widespread unemployment in the field and the fact that only a minority of graduates will choose agricultural careers.

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